The Homs notable Abdul Hamid al-Zahrawi, who was executed by Jamal Pasha in Marjeh Square in 1916Born in Homs in 1855, Abdul Hamid al-Zahrawi studied in Homs, Cairo, and Istanbul. He started his career as a journalist, establishing a Homs-based newspaper called al-Minbar which soon clashed with Ottoman authorities. He left to Istanbul where he also worked in journalism, returning to Ottoman Syria in 1908 to run for the first Ottoman Parliament in 30-years. In 1913, he called for and headed the first Arab Congress in Paris, aimed at granting more autonomy for Arab provinces in the Empire. He was thus persecuted by Ottoman authorities, then arrested and brought before a military tribunal. He was hanged in public in Marjeh Square on May 6, 1916.
